This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. We have developed conditions to purify prions for structural analysis, but these preparations still contain lipids that associate with the prion protein. One of these lipids is a ganglioside. Another class of lipids that associate with the prion protein are ceramides, which were assigned by thin layer chromatography (TLC). At least one additional component was enriched in the prion-associated lipid fraction on the TLC plate, but it could not easily be identified. At the Resource, LC/MS/MS is being used to identify the components of the prion-associated lipid pool. This has resulted in the identification of more than forty lipids, and has enabled comparisons between the samples. Now the investigators have prepared samples from animals with different stages of disease and these are being analyzed.